(2) Our neighborhood, the Solar System, stretching from the Sun to the Oort Cloud which lies a thousand times further from the sun than Pluto.

(3) Planets around other stars--we call them “exoplanets” or “extrasolar planets”. Did you know that some of them are bigger than Jupiter and circle their suns in as few as four days? We call them “hot Jupiters.”

(4) Meanwhile back on Earth, most of us are curious about people and I'm particularly interested in the often forgotten stories of women in astronomy. There will also be some down-to-earth help in getting started in astronomy and suggestions for choosing astronomy-related gifts.

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